By: Dr ONEFELI A. O.; Ngwuli C. P.; Oluranti O. I.; Babalola T. A.; Shodipe T. .;
Abstract:
This study provided the checklist and health status of the avenue trees within the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The study identified and enumerated avenue trees on major roads within the University campus. The presence of epiphytes and knots or bulge, insect attack, presence of holes, climbers, and decolorized leaves were assessed to ascertain the health status of the trees. A total of 1446 individual trees belonging to 113 and 35 species and families respectively were encountered in the study area. Out of the 113 species, 81.4% of the were exotic, while 18.6% were indigenous to Nigeria. Moraceae (2.16) was the most diverse family in the study area. Among all the defects assessed, result showed that the most common was decolorized leaves with 23.3%, then knot/bulge with 16.5%, followed by holes 13.9%, debarking 13.0%, climbers 11.3%, and epiphytes 9.9%. The prevalence of these defects on the trees has been one of the reasons for increasing toppling of avenue trees, and for the increase of unhealthy trees within the University of Ibadan. The study revealed high degradation of avenue trees due to deterioration in tree health as a result of the increase in the defect leading to concurrent cutting of affected trees. It is suggested that proper management activities should be implemented, such as thinning, pruning, planting of indigenous trees that are more adapted to the climatic condition of the study area, among others.
Keywords: Avenue Trees; Taxonomy; Tree Health; Tree Management; University of Ibadan
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